Aspect Ratio take the Mont Batwing climbing in Chulilla

Recently the outdoor magazine and documentary makers Aspect Ratio took to Spain for a spot of climbing in the sun. Aided and abetted by the Mont Batwing ultralight tarp, a versatile piece of kit originally designed for Thru-Hiking that also comes in pretty handy when you have a lot of climbing kit to lug around and need something to stop you getting boiling whilst belaying that’s super light and easy to pack away when not in use. We asked Bridget from Aspect Ratio to tell us all about the trip and that’s exactly what she did:

This August, myself (Bridget) and my partner Max from Aspect Ratio (alpine arts magazine and production team), did a big sport climbing trip to Spain. In our self-converted Mercedes Sprinter campervan we set off to Spain from the English coast via Western France and began our trip climbing some incredible limestone routes in the North of Spain. Specifically in the Picos de Europa, in Asturias, we parked in a cosy campsite in Fuente De, the last town before the endless wilderness of the imposing limestone pillars and mountains. From there on foot we embarked on a thousand metre elevation hike up to the incredible high altitude sport routes the area had on offer. We will definitely be back one day for Naranjo de Bulnes, the 2,500m jewel of the Cantabrian mountain range. But that is a monster of a Trad route that will require some serious training beforehand. We then headed south, after a cheeky stop off in Rioja to load the campervan up with some of the region’s finest wines, to the climbing mecca of Chulilla.

The huge canyon with the quaint town nestled above was one of the most breathtaking places we have ever had the privilege of visiting (this goes for Max too who has travelled the world in his day job as a Royal Marine). The sheer beauty and tranquility of the canyon is hard to put into words, and the thousands of bolted routes laid out along the miles long rock face were equally inspiring. Having spoken to the friendly local owner of the climbing shop in the town, the only shop in the town may I add, we soon learned peak season in Chulilla is October when the weather is just right for climbing. Now the only reason we ended up in the south of Spain in the height of the August heatwave, a questionable decision at best, was to get to a family wedding down in Calpe on the south coast. So we decided to tackle a couple of the sport routes in the canyon. We soon discovered the rock itself was too hot to touch in the midday sun and decided to do alpine starts most days to be on the wall before sunrise. This is where we had the genius idea of putting up a tarp over the belay station for shade as the sun rose. We had initially brought with us the Mont Batwing, an ultralight hiking tarp very kindly sent to us by none other than the legend Neil Summers, to use as a quick and easy awning for our campervan. However the Batwing quickly proved its purpose in the midday heat of the canyon where we set it up against the rock using Trad cams and nuts. The Batwing made us unstoppable and left no trace in the canyon other than two very happy climbers who got to climb all morning with no risk of sunburn or heatstroke. It was the trip of a lifetime and this is only just the beginning.